Adnan Abu Hasna, media advisor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said today, Sunday, that the agency´s budget is being reduced in an unprecedented way, and this year will be less than last year.
Abu Hasna said in an interview with Al-Aqsa local radio in Gaza, that for the first time in the history of UNRWA, expenditures exceeded incomes, and there is a real deficit.
He denied the existence of any threat to UNRWA, pointing out that the cuts and delays in paying employees ´salaries are related to the reality of the financial crisis, the new reality regarding donor countries´ policies and the nature of their continued support.
He pointed out that next April, there will be a decisive international conference to put the world before its responsibility, during which a new strategic vision will be presented to provide for the needs of refugees and the world’s demand for a multi-year budget.
For his part, Mahmoud Hamdan, Head of the Teachers Sector at the Staff Union at UNRWA, said that the Agency´s Commissioner-General, Villette Lazzarini, promised that salaries would be available this week.
